Solar power saving Neptune Beach big bucks so far

Don Ford (foreground), chief building official for Neptune Beach, and Mark Greenwood, plants division supervisor, check two arrays with 92 of the 140 solar panels that were installed at the 5,000-square-foot Neptune Beach City Hall.

Don Ford (left), Neptune Beach’s chief building official, and Mark Greenwood, plants division supervisor, stand near two arrays that were installed at the Neptune Beach City Hall. The installation has provided enough power to reduce the city’s electric bill.

NEPTUNE BEACH — When Don Ford spied the bottom line on the first electric bill for City Hall this year, his admiration for the sun gods grew.

$6.15.

The nosedive from last year’s initial bill of $491 is a tribute to Ford’s push as the city’s chief building official to install 140 solar panels on City Hall’s roof in the fall. Ford said more cloudy days in the second cycle led to an increase in that bill to $152, still a huge savings from the $542 spent over the same period last year.

Even better, the city paid for the $147,000 project using primarily federal and county grants for the materials and cut its labor costs by using its own crews after the contractor taught them how to install the system.

Neptune Beach Mayor Harriet Pruette praised using solar power on the 5,000-square-foot building as a win-win for taxpayers in a city struggling to meet its budget. She said she is also pleased with the city’s choice to “go green.”

“Neptune Beach has made its little mark,” said Pruette, who turned on the system in mid-November.

Such a mark is uncommon in municipalities, which make up less than 10 percent of the country’s solar energy users. Most users are residential customers, said Mike Taylor, director of research for the nonprofit national Solar Electric Power Association.

Among Northeast Florida’s other small municipalities, only Fernandina Beach reports using solar power at its water treatment plant. Jacksonville City Hall has two panels that illuminate 16 atrium lights, while solar power also is used to heat water at six fire stations and the Police Memorial Building. St. Johns County uses solar power at a bus maintenance facility and for lights at the St. Augustine Beach Pier parking lot.

Taylor said the cost of installing solar power systems has dropped dramatically over the past few years because of a glut of such systems and he expects more municipalities to turn to the green energy in the future.

Pete Wilking, president of A1A Solar Contracting of Jacksonville, provided the materials and installation lessons for the Neptune Beach project. He said the city’s investment using a free source of power should pay off forever.

“You just need the apparatus to monetize the sunshine,” Wilking said.

Ford said he’d been interested in solar power for years after hearing stories of its successes from local residents and doing his own research, including an independent energy survey at City Hall. He said bills were cut nearly 50 percent several years by replacing air-conditioning units atop the building, but he still sought more savings.

Ford said when he learned of funds available in a federal energy grant administered by Duval County, he convinced his bosses to take a chance on the solar package. The city got about $76,000 in federal funds in early 2012. Another $40,000 came from Jacksonville City Council district funds, while Neptune Beach made up the $30,000 difference.

Ford shows his pride in the work by whipping out the January bill when anyone on the street asks about the project.

“I’ve kind of been showing it off,” he said.

Ford warned that bills will fluctuate depending on sunny days and the energy used, especially with the heavy use of air conditioning in the summer. But he expects there will be some months when the city will receive credit from its provider, Beaches Energy.

Ford hopes to save the city even more in the future by installing solar at the wastewater treatment plant, where the monthly bills average $19,000. Powering the plant will take about 1,300 panels, which Ford said he hopes to have installed by 2015 depending on what grant money is available.

Ford said he is surprised more municipalities don’t take advantage of such opportunities.

What the author Jim Schoettler, needs along all other news organizations is to have the gumption to ask a simple question. "Excuse me Mr. Neptune Beach Mayor Harriet Pruette where do you think the $174,000 you used to pay for these panels came from -- Red China or printed in DC with nothing as collateral?" Your children and grandchildren will be paying for those stinking panels along with news one that will replace these 10-15 years down the road. Thanks Mayor, for assisting in "Fundamentally Transforming America"!

Thanks a lot, you negative-Nellie posters. Here I was, basking in the glow of a government-done-right, saved us clueless taxpayers a fortune story, and you have to rain on my parade with cold, hard facts. I'm sticking my head back in the sand and ignoring you guys!

========================================================================= When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators.

1459 points

Facts HURT

Tuesday, March 26, 2013 @ 5:35 pm

As to the headline, shouldn't it be changed since basic math has proven that Neptune Beach is not really saving any money at this time, even considering only the NB's costs and not the federal and county taxpayer money? Considering that the lifespan for a solar system is between 20-30 years, just as the city breaks even with the total costs, the system will need replacing.

north Miami, I don't think anyone is criticizing the technology, just it's application.

I built my retirement chateau waaaaay out in the sticks. The closest electric junction is 9 miles away. FPL wants more than my land and home cost to run a line (I don't blame them, I would be the only customer and since I'm surrounded by a WMA, there won't be any others).

I found it more cost effective to install a wind/solar system. When you factor in my FPL connection estimate, it paid for itself immediately.

There are times when green energy makes sense. But you shouldn't break the bank just to say you are green.